Paper detail

The evolution of the galaxy and the birth of the solar system: The short-lived nuclides connection

An attempt is made, probably for the first time, to understand the origin of the solar system in context with the evolution of the galaxy as a natural consequence of the birth of several generations of stellar clusters. The galaxy is numerically simulated to deduce the inventories of the short-lived nuclides, 26Al, 36Cl, 41Ca, 53Mn and 60Fe, from the stellar nucleosynthetic contributions of the various stellar clusters using an N-body simulation with updated prescriptions of the astrophysical processes. The galaxy is evolved by considering the discreteness associated with the stellar clusters and individual stars. We estimate the steady state abundance of the radionuclides around 4.56 billion years ago at the time of formation of the solar system. Further, we also estimate the present 26Al/27Al and 60Fe/56Fe of the interstellar medium that match within a factor of two with the observed estimates. On contrary to the conventional galactic chemical evolution (GCE) model, the present adopted numerical approach provides a natural framework to understand the astrophysical environment related with the origin of the solar system. We deduce the nature of the two stellar clusters; the one that formed and evolved prior to the solar system formation, and the other within which the solar system probably formed. The former could have contributed the short-lived nuclides 129I and 53Mn, whereas, the supernova associated with the most massive star in the latter contributed 26Al and 60Fe to the solar system. The analysis was performed with the revised solar metallicity of 0.014.